“So? Is it how you imagined it would be?” Kuno stood in the front doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, unmistakable pride in his voice. “There never used to be any flower shops like mine here. Twenty years ago, Josef Kuttner—his shop is down on the corner of the Promenade—and I were the first to take the risk. When I was young, people used to go to the farmers directly or to a nursery if they wanted flowers. Or they cut them in their own garden. But then the municipal authorities started buying the land that belonged to the nurseries and using it for shops and business buildings, and the nurseries moved out to the countryside. People didn’t want to go all the way out to the country just to buy a few flowers. That was when I saw my opportunity.”
Flora nodded, impressed. “We don’t have a single florist at home in G?nningen. Not yet, at least. It’s so lovely here!” Flora lifted one hand, her gesture taking in the entire shop. “I like your shop much more than Maison Kuttner. When Sabine and I walked past there yesterday evening, we couldn’t see any flowers at all because of all the porcelain and silverware and whatnot. It all looked so terribly congested.” At the same time, she thought, a little more of everything certainly would not hurt this place—everything looked so sparse, somehow.
Kuno shrugged. “Josef Kuttner’s customers seem to like all that. But the people who come here don’t have the money for that kind of thing.”
The old man looked so dejected that Flora felt obliged to cheer him up. She trotted outside to collect what she had picked early that morning and deposited by the front door.
Kuno gaped at the huge bundle of greenery and wildflowers that Flora laid on the counter. “You’ve already been out this morning? Well, whoever trains you in the future will be happy to have someone with that kind of enthusiasm, I’m sure.”
Flora was puzzled. What did he mean by “whoever trains you in the future”?
“Now don’t look so surprised. Friedrich told me about your little secret.” Kuno gave Flora’s hand a fatherly pat.
Little secret? “What . . . what did your son say, exactly?” Flora croaked.
“Not much, really. He said that you’re due to start a real floristry apprenticeship in Reutlingen this coming autumn. But that your parents fear that you lack the necessary, let’s say, manual dexterity, and you want to get some practice in the basics first. Of course, I’m only too happy to help, but . . .” The fleeting smile that had appeared on his face disappeared and he looked even more concerned than before. “My customers tend to buy just one or two flowers at a time. Very few of them can afford a proper bouquet. Looking at it like that, you could probably learn more at Maison Kuttner. Also, I’m a little wobbly at the knees these days—not that I’d make a big thing of it, God forbid.” He let out a hefty, sudden sneeze, dug in his pocket for a handkerchief, and dabbed at his nose and eyes.
Slowly, Flora realized what had happened. Hadn’t Friedrich mentioned in January how stubborn his old father could be? And that he accepted help only with the greatest reluctance? Apparently, Friedrich had resorted to a trick: rather than convince his father that he needed help, he had convinced him to help someone else—Flora. She had not thought that Friedrich Sonnenschein would do something like that.
“Well, I must say I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be able to look over your shoulder a little,” she said stiffly, but then she blurted, “Oh, you have no idea how happy I am to be allowed to work here! Just to think, the first customer could come in at any moment.”
“Well, these things take time. First things first. Let’s get what you’ve picked into some water.” He lifted the bundle from the counter. “What in the world is all this? And where did you get it?” He scrutinized the feathery-looking, branching stems of one plant in particular.
“Don’t they smell wonderful? I thought a bouquet would smell just as lovely if we bound some of that into it . . . wouldn’t it?” Suddenly, Flora was no longer so sure of herself. The scent of the strange flowers made her nose tickle.
And it seemed to have the same effect on Kuno, too, because he sneezed again.
“And this one? I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Oh my, what have you brought us here?” he mumbled into his handkerchief.
“Unusual, aren’t they?” Flora smiled as she looked over the branches with the tiny flowers that she had cut from a bush. They were quite distinctive, and had cocoon-like balls attached to the stems. Were there flowers maturing inside? “I just went for a walk through the meadows beside Lichtenthaler Allee. There are so many strange plants there. Trees with red bark, and bushes unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I really just wanted to pick a few daisies, but I soon forgot all about that.”
Kuno smiled. “Ah, I see. Lichtenthaler Allee is like a gigantic botanical garden. In the last twenty years, Monsieur Benazét—he was the leaseholder of the casino—spent a great deal of money having exotic trees, shrubs, and flowers brought in from all over the world and planted along there. Although I’m fairly sure he did not intend for you to come along and cut them all down. Let’s hope no one saw you, or we could find ourselves in trouble.”
Flora suddenly felt a little wobbly at her own knees. All she had wanted to do was help, and she had done it all wrong!
Kuno placed the spoils of Flora’s plundering in a bucket of water. “Come, come. You couldn’t have known. I, for one, would be very happy to have you pick flowers for the shop in the future, too. But please, just the usual kinds. You know, when I was younger I used to go out collecting in the meadows myself. The only problem was that while I was out wandering across the fields and floodplains, the shop stayed closed. And the customers here are not the kind inclined to wait in front of a closed door.”
“But—” Flora had been on the verge of saying that one could go out early in the morning. Or that the woman of the house could have looked after the shop. She stopped herself, though, afraid of offending him.
Instead, she picked up the parcel of seeds she had brought with her and placed it on the counter. “My father says that in case you don’t get all your flowers from Flumm’s Nursery and you grow some of your own, then these seeds might be welcome.”
Kuno tried to answer, but his words were lost in a bout of coughing.
My God, the man is really not well at all, Flora thought. She looked on with concern as Kuno lowered himself onto a chair, and in a short while his coughing subsided and he was able to examine the parcel of seeds.
“Zinnia, lobelia, poppy—so many different kinds! Your father is a generous man, and I will write him a thank-you letter today.” He looked out the window then, pondering. “Maybe I really should try my own flower beds again . . . You know, until the year before last, I had rows and rows of flowers in the garden out back. For a city garden, it’s quite large. They were beautiful to look at, and much cheaper than having them delivered. But last year I was hit by a bad cold just when I should have been pricking out my seedlings to give them more room—it was frustrating, I don’t mind telling you. Now the flower beds are overgrown with weeds.” He shrugged. “Well, Mr. Flumm has to earn a living, too. By the way, he comes every Mo . . . Monday, and . . .” His last words were swallowed by wheezing, and he whipped out his handkerchief and spat into it.
Flora turned and looked at the various buckets of flowers. They had been delivered only the day before? They looked very tired for being only a day in the shop.
“Heavens above, there must be something in the air today. But enough of that!” said Kuno, resolutely stuffing his handkerchief back in his pocket. “Maybe you’d be interested in helping me lay out a decent flower bed? I’m sure you’d learn quite a lot in the process.”
Flora groaned to herself. She had not traveled to Baden-Baden to grub around in the earth again. “And what about my training here in the shop?” she asked delicately.
“Your training, yes . . . well, why don’t we start with you just watching how I do things for a while?”
At that, Flora nodded eagerly.